The Dying Light (#8.06)

  Big Finish, Companion Chronicles

 

Jamie, Zoe, and the Doctor land on a planet with a sand sea and rocks that float with creatures “inside” of them. So they find a Sanctuary and the head Abbott is Quadrigger Stoyn, the engineer who tagged along in the TARDIS in The Beginning. And he’s not really much of an evil/devious guy as much as nuts and looking for a way to contact the Time Lords and get home. So it’ll be interesting to see what incarnation he takes with the third story.

This story has a dance to it, back and forth between the technology of the Time Lords and the simplicity of the way people live on this planet. The tone is second Doctor through and through – as Frazer Hines continues to do flawlessly with every story he does in the 2nd Doctor’s voice. It’s pretty amazing how he does it! It’s to the point of not even noticing just how magnificent the acting truly is for these stories. This will be the really sad part of leaving the Companion Chronicles behind – no more Jamie McCrimmon stories. Sigh. I will miss them terribly.

The only thing keeping this from being a 5 jelloid story is the relative lack of character development of Kathryn, the person on the planet they talk to the most. Johan is the scientist they meet right away but he doesn’t last long. Kathryn is their envoy, helping them and telling them about the city. But there just isn’t much to her! Sadly. And Stoyn isn’t really a menace, just more a bit loopy. And not very good at planning for an old guy. Otherwise it’s a really good story!


Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Wendy Padbury (Zoe Heriot), and Terry Molloy (Quadrigger Stoyn)

Writer: Nick Wallace

Director: Lisa Bowerman

Release: December 2013

© Laura Vilensky 2019